The Augmentor
by Perpetual Concern
Summary: How do you defeat a pokemon that has had its stats artificially increased? The invention of a certain microchip has drastically altered the strength of a certain team, determined to complete what they started sometime ago.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **So in the end I just decided to post the prologue. I had originally intended to only post this when I had written half of the story, but I changed my mind.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters.

**

* * *

**

**Prologue**

Pages rustled and a pen scribbled on paper, the only audible sounds in the otherwise silent laboratory. A man sat at a mahogany desk, hunched over a mess of books and notes, his forehead creased in deep concentration. His lips moved as he silently mouthed the words that he read, in an attempt to make more sense of them. One paragraph in particular was causing him great distress; he reread over and over again, yet it still refused to make sense. In a rare fit of anger, he swung an arm to the right, knocking a mug filled with coffee to the tiled floor. It shattered, spilling the lukewarm liquid.

The door to the laboratory creaked open, and a woman stepped into the room. "Charon? What is going on? I heard a crash…" Her eyes travelled to the broken remnants of the mug, surrounded by small puddles of coffee.

"I was having issues with understanding," Charon stated, glaring at the mess on the floor as if it was the mug's fault.

Jupiter pursed her lips together tightly, with one hand resting on her hips, the other hanging limply by her side. "So you destroy a mug?"

"Does it matter much in the grand scheme of things? If I feel like breaking a mug, I'll break a mug."

"Did you hear what you just said?" Jupiter asked, her tone incredulous at his response.

He didn't comment, instead clenching his fists. "Don't you ever do that again!" the female commander snarled. "Team Galactic does not have an infinite supply of cash, so don't ever intentionally break a mug again! How can you be so childish?"

Charon rolled his eyes. Instead of verbally responding to Jupiter, he pushed his chair back, stood up, and reached down for a piece of the mug. But Jupiter leapt forward, knelt down and swiped at his hand angrily.

"Why do you think I hire grunts, Charon? Monotonous jobs and errands are what I employ them for. Get back to work! I'll find somebody to clean up this mess." She grimaced, turned, and stormed out of the laboratory, allowing the door to close loudly behind her. Charon's hand twitched slightly, but he stood up and returned to a seating position in front of the desk. He picked up a book, frowning deeply. Seconds passed, stretching into minutes. An idea formed in Charon's mind, and he reached for another book, comparing his thought to the words on the page. His eyes brightened somewhat, and he reached for a fresh sheet of paper to write down his discovery.

The door to the laboratory opened while Charon was in the middle of a sentence. He tensed, swivelling around in his chair to identify the intruder. A Team Galactic grunt nodded a greeting to Charon, and then, without a word, headed for the mess on the floor, armed with cleaning implements. Charon watched for a few seconds, his brow creasing as he frowned. The younger man gingerly swept a few shards into a dustpan slowly and tentatively. The grunt's somewhat sluggish movements were aggravating Charon and he slowly began to bend the plastic pen in his hands until there was a snapping sound, and the grunt looked up just in time to witness Charon tossing the two pieces of the pen on the floor.

"Could you be any slower?" Charon's thunderous voice startled the man kneeling on the floor who gazed, open-mouthed, at him. "Hurry it up, and get me a new cup of coffee!"

"Y-yes, sir!" The grunt began to sweep up the mess faster, pausing only to push the dustpan aside and grab a sponge to mop up the liquid from the tiles. He tried to stand up, stumbled, and pressed his hand into the sharp shards in the dustpan. A yowl escaped his lips, but one glance at the older man caused him to bite down on his lower lip. Charon glared at him stonily as the young man hurried to his feet, a moment later, and dashed out the door.

"Bumbling fool," Charon muttered. "The inept people around here will surely drive me to insanity." He reached for another pen.

A silence fell over the room, and Charon worked until the door creaked open, and the grunt returned, his left hand gripping a mug that was presumedly filled with coffee.

"S-sir?" The mug was placed carefully on the desk, and Charon's eyes travelled from the mug to the grunt, his lips twitching in agitation. This would be his fourth cup of coffee. Suddenly he felt as if he were suffering from a caffeine overdose.

"I don't want it. Take it back," he ordered. The grunt's eyes widened and he looked irritated, but he picked up the mug and exited the room. Relieved to hear the door close softly, Charon resumed his work, only to be interrupted by the door creaking open again mere minutes later.

A stormy looking Jupiter slipped silently inside and without missing a beat immediately started a tirade of complaints. "It's nearly midnight, and you still haven't done what you should have an hour ago…Where is that grunt with your coffee? Nobody ever does what they're supposed to around here…I hope that you've at least come up with an adequate plan regarding who the test subjects will be…Oh, Charon, for goodness sakes, how on earth can you possibly get any work done on that mess of a desk?" She tapped her foot petulantly, and waited for a response.

"Oh will you be quiet?" Charon snarled, eyes wild. "I can't get any work done when people insist on barging in here for every little thing that bothers them-"

"You watch your mouth, Charon, and don't forget who's in charge here," Jupiter interrupted icily. Her shoulders trembled as she visibly tried to refrain from losing her temper completely and lunging at the scientist in front of her. In an attempt to calm herself, she closed her eyes, inhaled, and tried to imagine what was sure to come. It worked, and when she opened her eyes and found herself staring at Charon again, she looked much more relaxed. All of the hard work would surely pay off; the grand reward that Team Galactic would have in the near future would be worth all the work. "Just hurry it up a little, will you? I'm going to bed. In the morning, I expect you to be finished with what you promised you would complete." She strode out of the room, allowing the door to close softly behind her with a faint but still audible click.

For a brief moment, Charon recalled the past months events and wondered if he was doing a terrible thing. It wasn't Jupiter's bossy and impatient attitude that bothered him, though he would have preferred it if she were a little more like Saturn, but a glance at his notes caused him to realise exactly what they were doing. Once started, it would be difficult to go back, perhaps even impossible. 'Hmm, I wonder what Cyrus thinks of this…' It had been a little different when Cyrus had been in charge. His controlling methods were much more bearable than Jupiter's, and Cyrus had somehow made it more convincing that what they were doing was necessary. But Cyrus had vanished; nobody in Team Galactic had any idea of where he was and what he was doing.

Charon shook his head to rid his mind of the doubting thoughts that plagued his mind and turned his attention back to the task at hand.

"Team Galactic has risen from the ashes. With or without Cyrus, we will finish what we started. Jupiter knows what she's doing, and both Mars and Saturn have returned. I refuse to miss out on what we will achieve." His doubts settled, Charon resumed the assignment in front of him.

* * *

**A/N:** I have absolutely no idea if I'm getting anyone in character with this fanfiction. Constructive criticism on that would be much appreciated. ^_^

Oh, and a big thanks to Kitty Kat K.O. who beta'd this. :)

If you've read up to this and you have the time, reviews would be appreciated, particularly ones with constructive criticism. :)


	2. 1 The Abductions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.**

**A/N: I've decided to try and finish this fanfiction if I can, so here's the next chapter.  
**

* * *

"Come on, Piplup; we're almost there." As Dawn trudged up the dirt path, her starter Pokémon groaned in protest. The small penguin Pokémon shook its head and looked pleadingly at the young trainer. Defeated, Dawn exhaled unhappily and returned the fatigued Piplup to its Pokéball.

She had been walking for what felt like an eternity and was exhausted; the sight of Solaceon Town in the near distance was like an oasis in a desert to her. She could almost see a room in the Pokémon Centre in front of her and all she wanted to do was drop down and sleep. Nights in the woods were never pleasant and Dawn had experienced a particularly sleepless night in the forest close to Solaceon Town. The ground had felt rock hard beneath her, Hoothoot's insisted on hooting loudly all night long, and after finding a Spinarak nestled snugly in her sleeping bag she had been unable to fall asleep for a long time.

A sudden burst of energy was enough for Dawn to sprint into Solaceon Town, her backpack bouncing against her back as she ran. Images of a warm room and a soft bed hovered in her mind and she smiled as her feet touched the soft grass in the town. But a quick look around revealed that something was very different from when she had last been here. The atmosphere felt cold and the town was unusually busy; why were so many reporters here? A jolt of uneasiness snapped Dawn out of her happy reverie and she cautiously made her way over to a boy who was shouting something about a newspaper article.

"Um, excuse me, but did something happen here?" she asked him.

He stared at her for a moment, and then nodded his head. "Oh, you must have been somewhere else last night. There's been a string of Pokémon abductions. There wasn't time to stick this article in the usual newspaper so it's been printed out separately. Here…" He held out a single piece of white paper and the headline leapt out at Dawn as she accepted it.

In bold, large sized font, the headline read: CRIME WAVE IN SOLACEON TOWN: HUNDREDS OF POKEMON ABDUCTED.

Dawn clapped a hand to her mouth in horror and she gasped, "What?"

The boy had moved on to another person, who looked as shell-shocked as Dawn felt as she quickly skim-read the article. Who would do such a thing? Were the statistics exaggerated? What was going to happen to the stolen Pokémon?

A cool breeze brushed against Dawn's bare arms and she shivered involuntarily as she sat down onto a nearby bench. The usually bright and cheerful atmosphere of Solaceon Town had changed drastically overnight to one of sullenness and concern, and the weather appeared to have changed along with it. The previous nights' events had even warranted an immediate newspaper article, written by Solaceon Town reporters. The brief, but succinct report had come as a great shock to Dawn and her heart went out to the victims.

Dawn furrowed her brow and reached for the Pokéballs attached to her belt, relief flooding through her. 'How could people be so heartless? It's bad enough that they break the law, but how can they not think about what they're doing to these poor people?' She supposed that the fact of the matter was that they just didn't care. Blunt, but surely true; Dawn couldn't imagine anybody as cruel as to abduct so many people's Pokémon.

'I suppose it must have been more than one person,' she mused. 'Maybe a group?' Her expression hardened and she pressed her lips tightly together as she added to herself, 'a cruel and heartless group!'

As the young Pokémon trainer mulled over the details of the crime, her fingers tightened their grip on the newspaper article held in her hands. 'Whoever did this can't be allowed to get away with it.' Still stunned at the malicious and blatant crime, Dawn pressed her lips tightly together and crumpled the piece of paper in her hand. Turning slightly to the left, she tossed the ball of paper into a nearby wastepaper bin, watching as it teetered on the edge before finally falling in. A sudden feeling of paranoia washed over Dawn, and she looked down, visibly relaxing as she counted the Pokéballs that were safely secured to her belt.

'One, two, three, four, five, six…'

Each Pokémon accounted for, Dawn settled down and sat quietly on the blue bench until a drop of liquid splashed onto her left arm. She flinched and looked up, surprised to see that the sky had darkened and clouds loomed ominously overhead. When another drop hit her, quickly followed by two more, Dawn stood up and ran towards the Pokémon Centre, one hand above her head as the rain began falling heavily. She dashed into the Pokémon Centre at the exact same moment that a bright, jagged line of lightning flashed; deafening thunder rumbled a second later.

Nurse Joy smiled faintly at Dawn from behind the front desk. "Good afternoon. Were your Pokémon requiring a check-up?" Her voice sounded strained and she looked exhausted; there were dark circles under her eyes, which were puffy, and she looked unusually pale.

"No, thanks. Actually, I was just hoping to get out of the storm." Dawn peeked out the window, jumping back suddenly when another bolt of lightning zigzagged across the sky.

Nurse Joy nodded and said, "Well, there are plenty of rooms if you'd like one."

"Thanks, Nurse Joy. That would be great," Dawn said gratefully. The shock of the Pokémon thefts had stunned her for a brief period of time but suddenly she didn't feel quite so alert anymore. A room at the Pokémon Centre would be wonderful and Dawn would feel a little safer; something surprising about the abductions was that the Pokémon Centre had not been targeted, though surely anybody looking to steal Pokémon would realise that many were in the centre at any given time. She almost voiced her questions, stopping only for fear of the thief somehow hearing and getting ideas.

"Hey, there's a report on the abductions," somebody suddenly announced. Her exhaustion momentarily forgotten, Dawn's eyes travelled to the television set and sure enough a female reporter was on the screen, informing the Sinnoh Region on the happenings of last night.

Dawn and a few others crowded around the television, listening to an interview between the reporter and a victim of the Pokémon thefts. The reporter used one hand to clutch a microphone which she spoke eloquently into, and the other hand repeatedly smoothed down non-existent creases in the blue suit she wore. The victim's pale face had traces of tears and her grey eyes looked watery as she stuttered a polite greeting to the reporter.

As the reporter spoke into the microphone, she stared intently at the woman in front of her. "So tell me, what exactly happened last night?"

The woman being interviewed said shakily, "I'm not sure. I didn't hear or see anything out of the ordinary. I just woke up and my darling Pokémon were missing. I called and called and looked all over, but they were nowhere to be found." Her voice caught on a sob.

"What Pokémon went missing?" The reporter held the microphone in front of the sobbing woman who sniffed and swallowed, visibly attempting to hold back the tears.

"My Marill and my Oddish were g-gone."

"You must be devastated. May I offer you my sincerest consolations?" The reporter paused for a brief moment before saying, "Well, you would have heard that others have fallen victim to this sudden string of Pokémon thefts. Do you suspect that one person is behind it all?"

"Gracious, one person? I don't recall the exact number of thefts, but my guess is that a whole group is behind it." The interviewee bit down on her lower lip and said softly, "I just want my darlings back." Suddenly unable to contain her grief, she began to cry again, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed.

The reporter awkwardly patted her on the back, turned to the camera, and said gravely, "The police are trying their best to find the guilty party responsible. But there you have it folks; a group of Pokémon thieves are walking around free. If anybody has any information, they are encouraged to speak to the police."

The image on the television set suddenly switched to a different story and slowly the people crowded around the set dispersed, murmuring different views on the thefts.

"It's impossible for only one person to have stolen that many Pokémon…"

"No way; if they started late in the evening and finished in the early hours of the morning it would be possible…"

"Possible, yes, but highly improbable…"

"My money's on a group of many people…"

"I'm just thanking my lucky stars that I only reached Solaceon Town this morning. Just imagine, I was going to stay with my aunt and she had her Pokémon stolen! Prized ones too; she's won contest ribbons with them…"

Looking troubled, Dawn again reached for the Pokéballs at her waist, shaking her head slowly. 'I hope that they don't strike again…' Slowly, she traipsed towards the stairs of the Pokémon Centre, just wanting to curl up and sleep. When she had reached her room, she paused to unlock the door, smiling down at Piplup who nudged her leg, glancing up at his trainer worriedly.

"Don't you worry, Piplup! I refuse to allow those horrible people to get a hold of you or any of my other Pokémon. In fact, if I can, I intend to find them and make them pay for their crimes. After all, I brought down Team Galactic, and with my Pokémon's help, I may be able to stop whoever's responsible for this.." Dawn leaned heavily against the wooden door and it opened. "I think that I'll have a nap; later I'll try to find out more on what happened last night."

For hours, Dawn dozed, her dreamless sleep uninterrupted. Piplup lay curled up next to her, his breathing even and his face as peaceful as his trainer's.

A sudden bang jolted both Pokémon and trainer awake, and Dawn sat up so quickly her head spun. Blinking away the red spots that blurred her vision, Dawn's eyes went straight to Piplup, and then to her Pokéballs, which were exactly where she had left them.

"What was that?" Dawn gasped, breathing heavily.

"Pip, Piplup!" her penguin Pokémon squeaked, flapping its wings frantically.

Dawn kicked the covers away and leapt out of the bed, sleeping forgotten. It was dark outside and a quick look at the clock at her bedside revealed that the time was six o'clock. When a panicked scream sounded a second later, Dawn grabbed her Pokéballs, and with her starter Pokémon, dashed out the door, not even bothering to close it behind her. As she reached the staircase leading to the lower level of the Pokémon Centre, Nurse Joy's voice floated up to them, more angry then Dawn had ever heard her before.

"How dare you come in here and try to make off with even more Pokémon! These Pokémon are all injured; some of them could even die if you take them away from here."

Dawn quickly dashed down the stairs and crouched down, signalling for Piplup to be quiet, listening intently for the intruders.

Mocking laughter filled the room, and when Dawn eased her way forward silently she found herself staring at hooded, cloaked figures. The one in the middle had her arms folded and was the one laughing cruelly. A handkerchief was muffling her voice slightly but when she spoke, Dawn felt an uneasy sense of déjà vu.

"And you think we care, because..." The woman snorted. "We haven't finished our business in this town just yet and we're not leaving until we do."

A nervous group of people were bunched up in a group on the other side of the room, and Dawn's stomach fluttered as she mentally counted the amount of intruders. 'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...Eight!" She squinted as she tried to count the group huddled away from the scene. 'One, two, three, four, five...Weren't there more people here earlier? Did they all leave? Oh no, we're outnumbered! Dare I try to take them on myself? Maybe if everybody here sent out a Pokémon...Why aren't the police here?'

Another loud bang was heard, and Dawn jumped, a cry of surprise escaping her lips. One of the cloaked figures turned their head and narrowed their eyes.

"It's another one," the figure said, laughing. "And she looks as pathetically scared as the rest of them."

"You...What's your name?" the figure in the middle asked mockingly, her left hand reaching for a Pokéball at her waist.

Dawn stepped forward, Piplup at her side squawking angrily as he puffed himself up.

"I'm Dawn, and you better get out of here quick!" The trainer balled her hands into fists and stared soundlessly at the woman staring back at her intently for a few seconds.

Finally the stranger said sharply, "We have no intention of retreating, little girl. Back off and get out of our way." But her voice wavered ever so slightly and Dawn stubbornly took another step forward.

"You don't scare me. What you've done is despicable, and you're trying to steal even more Pokémon! That's beyond low; catch your own Pokémon and return the ones that you've stolen. Nobody deserves to have their Pokémon taken from them, and I bet even a bunch of heartless, insensitive crooks like you would be as upset as all the people who you've stolen from if the same thing happened to you." Dawn narrowed her eyes and folded her arms, trying to place the voice of the woman but try as she might, she just couldn't remember who it was. Could it really be a stranger?

"I'd be upset, only because nobody steals from me. Pokémon are tools, use them for all their worth; you're obviously the type of person who treats their Pokémon like they're on the same level as you."

"Tools?" Dawn gasped, outraged, seeing red. "They are _not_ tools! And my Pokémon are definitely on the same level as I am. Whenever I succeed, it's not my own doing; my Pokémon deserve most of the credit. You have no right to do this!"

"Don't tell me what to do," the hooded figure snarled.

"I'll take you all on!" Dawn yelled.

One of the hooded figures chuckled darkly. "Good luck; the odds are so against you, even the cockiest trainer couldn't possibly be confident of winning."

Nobody would ever know if the confident trainer could back up her claims and beat the hooded intruders. The police burst through the door seconds later, and the trespassers fled. The police regretfully informed the public later that night that they had not yet been caught, but they were hopeful that it would not be too long before arrests were made.

* * *

As the phone rang, Saturn impatiently shifted his weight and pressed the receiver to his ear with more force. A few rings later, a breathless woman gasped, "Hello, this is Team…uh, the Galactic Veilstone Building. How may I-"

"This is Saturn," Saturn cut in, unwilling to waste time being courteous. "Get me Jupiter."

"Oh, okay…" There was silence on the other end of the phone and Saturn tapped his left foot impatiently. A minute passed and then another, and Saturn felt himself growing increasingly more agitated. It was unusual for it to take such a long time to bring another member of Team Galactic to the telephone, and Saturn was about to hang up when Jupiter's voice suddenly came through, clear as a bell.

"Saturn! This is Jupiter. Those useless maintenance men are late! Our communication systems are important; something isn't working correctly!"

"I got through to you, didn't I?"

"No, not the phone line! I mean the loudspeaker system. Everything is breaking around here and nobody is doing their job!" Sounding frazzled, Jupiter paused for a brief second before continuing. "The incompetent fools that I've hired aren't doing their jobs. The receptionist left her post, those men that I hired haven't turned up yet, and I still haven't heard from Charon what Pokémon will be the test subject. Nobody does their job anymore and I am at breaking point-"

"_I_ am doing my job, Jupiter. And the reason why Charon hasn't given you any details is because I am the only person who knows that information. The Pokémon is now in my possession." Saturn's lips curled into a smirk as Jupiter immediately ceased her tirade of complaints, mollified.

"Great! That just leaves the repair men and the receptionist then. I'll put in a call to make sure that they got my message as soon as you tell me what you just captured." Saturn made no move to speak, prompting Jupiter to ask, "Well? What did you catch?"

"I'm choosing not to tell you. I'm concerned that you won't understand the point of it," Saturn said slowly, still smirking and grateful that Jupiter couldn't see it.

"Saturn, I am your commander. I demand that you inform me exactly what you just caught. This Pokémon, whatever it is, will be our test subject, and it is an absolutely essential part of the plan. If it is useless, we will need to capture another test subject; need I remind you that we do not have all the time in the world? Tell me what you captured and tell me now."

Ignoring Jupiter's wishes, Saturn said flatly, "I should be back by tonight," and ended the call, his lips twitching into a smirk as he imagined what the enraged expression on Jupiter's face must look like. He supposed that he was lucky to be higher up on the hierarchy of Team Galactic; if he were a lowly grunt, for instance, refusal to obey Jupiter's wishes would surely result in an immediate punishment, if not a dismissal. But Saturn was positive that if Jupiter found out the species of Pokémon he had caught, she would be infuriated and bemused. 'I simply do not have time to explain it to her now,' Saturn reminded himself. Jupiter was right; they did not have all the time in the world.

The mere thought of his test Pokémon was enough to make Saturn smirk. When Jupiter saw it, she was sure to be livid with anger. Perhaps she'd even accuse him of playing a prank on her.

But Saturn knew exactly why he had chosen it as a test Pokémon. If the tests had the desired result, especially on a Pokémon such as this, surely their entire plan would be successful with little or no trouble.

'My mission here is complete. When I return to Team Galactic Headquarters, the next phase will be tried.' Pleased with the progress, Saturn strode off. 'Soon…'


End file.
